The present invention relates to a fuse to be used mainly for, for example, an electric circuit for an automobile, and relates particularly to a fuse manufacturing method, in which a fuse element is stretched and held in a casing, and a fuse.
In the prior art, fuses have been used to protect an electric circuit mounted in an automobile or the like and various electric components connected to the electric circuit. Specifically, when unintended overcurrent flows in the electric circuit, a fusing portion of a fuse element embedded in the fuse fuses due to heat generated by overcurrent to protect so as not to allow excess current to flow through the various electric components.
There are various kinds of fuses depending on the application, and, for example, the fuse described in Patent Literature 1 for protection from a relatively large overcurrent has been known.
This fuse is of a type which stretches and holds a fuse element in a tubular casing. More specifically, the fuse is provided with a tubular cover body (casing), a fusible body (fuse element) stretched in the cover body, and two fusible body holders sandwiching both ends of the fusible body therebetween at both ends of the cover body. The two fusible body holders abut against peripheral portions of openings on both sides of the cover body while sandwiching the both ends of the fusible body therebetween. Consequently, the fusible body (fuse element) is stretched inside the cover body and held so as not to be displaced.
However, in the fuse of Patent Literature 1, the process of accommodating the fuse element in the cover and sandwiching the end of the fuse element, protruding from the opening of the cover, between the two fusible body holders from above and below the fuse element must be performed, so that an assembling work becomes complicated.